SINGAPORE // Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo said the two safety car periods in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix denied him a chance at challenging Sebastian Vettel for victory.
The Australian was never more than five seconds adrift of Vettel’s Ferrari throughout the 61-lap race at the Marina Bay Circuit, and he said that the ability of his Red Bull car to be softer on its tyres would allow him to close in during the pit-stop periods.
But the safety car came out twice, first when Nico Hulkenberg collided with Felipe Massa’s Williams, leaving the Force India man beached in the barriers at Turn 1.
Then a full course caution period was called after a spectator got on to the track.
Ricciardo said those occassions cost him the chance to push Vettel hard when the German’s tyres were just beginning to lose their edge.
“If there was no safety car we could have been close for the undercut, but the two safety cars came at pretty crucial times,” Ricciardo said.
However, Vettel said he had Ricciardo covered.
“I had lots of pressure from behind, Daniel had a very good race looking after his tyres,” Vettel said. “In the second stint, I was dictating the pace. From then, I was trying to control the gap.”
With championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-GP failing to finish for the first time this season, Vettel is 49 points adrift with a maximum of 150 points still to be won.
He said remained optimistic he could still mount a late charge to pressure the Briton.
“If we have more weekends like this, yes, we can catch Mercedes,” the four-time world champion said. “Maybe we can make the impossible possible. We will definitely go for it.”
Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen was a distant third to give Ferrari their first double podium of the season. The Finn struggled to match Vettel’s pace in both the qualifying and the race, though.
“Saturday, I struggled for whatever reason. I was surprised to finish third in qualifying,” he said. “Today was a struggle again, and I had no chance to do anything about first or second.”
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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